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Be Unstoppable™Wed, 20 May 2015 13:00:16 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.3Sales Strategies to Boost Your Freelance Writing Businesshttp://writersliving.com/sales-strategies-for-freelance-businesses
http://writersliving.com/sales-strategies-for-freelance-businesses#commentsWed, 20 May 2015 13:00:16 +0000http://writersliving.com/?p=2926Solopreneur and freelance small business owners who launched their businesses because they are good at doing a thing like taking pictures, writing, designing, coaching, or something else often get frustrated when sales don’t just roll right in. There is a big difference between being good at doing a thing and being good at the business side of that thing. When technicians launch businesses because they are good at using a certain skill, they’ve got to learn about and become good at other essential areas of business as well, if they want to be successful. There are many essential areas of business to become proficient in, including branding, marketing, and sales.

Today, I’ll share three sales strategies that can help you get better in this area and close more deals.

I had to learn all this from the ground up. I started my writing business 13 years ago because I was good at writing. But I had to learn over several years how to get good at sales. Now, it’s a lot easier for me. In fact, what I have found is that when you get knowledge, through your own experience, research, or study, once difficult tasks become a lot easier. It took me a while to get to this point, but I’m so glad I did. Now, I get to share what I know with you, through this blog, my training programs, books, and other means.

So here we go. Let me share three sales strategies you can implement now to grow your writing business. You see, simply making an offer is not enough to get the buyer to whip out a credit card. You’ve got to create the right sales environment. Like so:

1. Relate to your buyer. Especially in the online space, but also offline, you’ve got to help your buyer connect with you. One of the best ways to do that is to share your story. Somewhere in that sales process, make a point to share your personal story. Now, this doesn’t mean you want to go from the day you were born to the current moment. No, you want to share enough of the story so the buyer feels that you “get” him or her and that you understand where he or she is coming from. Sharing your story also helps the buyer connect with you on an emotional level by feeling as if he or she knows you a bit. As an example, if using this strategy online, then you’d want to share your story in the sales page of your offer. While it is your story, it’s not about you. This is about your buyer. So share the story in that context. That means don’t get too long-winded. Your story can even show up in your branding, as your personal brand may swivel around your personal story. In an offline sales experience, such as a sales call over the phone, your story can show up in an anecdote you share to connect with the buyer on the other end.

2. Create a compelling offer. Your offer should be targeted to your buyer and in that, this means it should fit a need the buyer has. The offer also must be clearly defined, and it must have some dynamic element that makes it compelling. This element should be high-stakes. It should be something that must be availed of now or it will be gone. If there is no urgency, then the offer is not compelling. In my Accelerate training program, I share the secret weapon sales strategy that actually helps me get buyers to act immediately. This one strategy has helped me turn a weeks or months-long sales cycle into one that lasts only days.

3. Follow up. The pitch isn’t the end of the sales process. It’s just one element. Don’t just make an offer and then leave it at that, trusting that your prospect will get in touch with you, if he or she wants to move forward. People get busy. And sometimes, they’re on the fence and your follow-up can be the thing to help them land squarely on your side. The follow-up is your opportunity to answer any last-minute questions, confirm that great first impression, and highlight your compelling offer. The follow-up may just be where you land the deal. The compelling offer, combined with the follow-up, along with the incorporation of your personal story may be the strategies to super charge your sales.

While these are three powerful strategies, there aren’t the only ones. In fact, I’ve written a short ebook titled, “Super Effective Sales Strategies,” with more useful sales strategies to help you boost your writing business.

In this ebook, you will learn:

* The top 10 reasons customers aren’t buying from you — and what you can do to correct those mistakes

* Sales strategies to close more deals — five effective sales strategies to help you get more “yeses”

Remember, there are people who are less talented than you, but who are doing better in business because they know how to sell. Don’t get left behind. Get Super Effective Sales Strategies and close more deals. I’m offering this ebook for free for a limited time. So click on over and get your copy now.

I started my writing business doing what a lot of freelancers do — writing for magazines and newspapers, creating brochures, etc. And while this was a good way to get started, I found it wasn’t the best fit for me. Mainly because I needed to earn more money than what the projects I was doing were commanding. I wasn’t interested in the model of working feverishly to amass a mountain of freelance projects that paid a small amount individually, but collectively paid OK. I needed better than that. I needed each individual project to pay well.

So I got into ghostwriting. As with many opportunities, it wasn’t an opportunity I was necessarily looking for, but it was one I was prepared for, nonetheless. I believe someone defined that as luck — “when preparation meets opportunity.” I don’t much believe in luck, preferring to see blessings and fortune, but that’s beside the point. The point here is that I was in a place to take advantage of an opportunity that transformed my business.

I broke into ghostwriting when I attended a training seminar by one of the most-known speakers of the time. He asked me to write some projects for him and even referred me to some of his clients. I retooled my business and began focusing on ghostwriting books. No longer was I chasing $200 writing assignments. I was looking at thousands of dollars per project. Today, our company offers full-length business books for about $20,000-$30,000. We have a specialty short book that is great for business owners that we offer for about $10,500.

So how can you break into ghostwriting books?

1. First, you’ve got to put yourself in the position to seize the opportunity when it comes. What this means is that you need to get experience writing lots of different kinds of projects. These assignments help hone your writing ability. The last thing you want is to get hired by someone and then not be able to write.

2. Decide what kinds of projects you want to ghostwrite. The ghostwriting options are varied. Do you want to ghostwrite blog posts, articles, speeches, books, what? Your capabilities and even temperament come into play here. For instance, you might get bored if you have to work on the same project for months at a time. In that case, ghostwriting a book may not be the best fit for you. Or you may be good at short-form content like short blog posts, but you may not be all that great at longer format content like a 125-page book.

While I have ghostwritten articles and commentary, I’ve focused on ghostwriting books. I enjoy working on long-form content, and I have enough business expertise now to bring something special to book projects for business clients. In fact, in many instances, while my clients may be masters in their business topic areas, they lean on my guidance for creating a book or other content to meet their business branding, marketing, and lead generation goals.

3. Announce your intentions. Let potential clients know you can help with their content needs. If you have settled on a specific type of content, tell them what type(s) of content you can do. You can let potential clients know you are a ghostwriter by including ghostwriting in your services listed on your website, in your email signature, in your social media profiles, etc. And, of course, tell them when you speak face-to-face and they express a need for what you do.

4. Go after ghostwriting projects. You won’t just announce that you are a ghostwriter and wait for projects to find you. You’ll actively go out looking for projects. Blog about ghostwriting and your chosen area of focus, such as business, if you will ghostwrite business books. Speak to organizations that serve your target audience. For instance, if you want to ghostwrite political books and speeches, then speak at local political events, to local service organizations where politicians are members, etc. You can even post ads to Craigslist. While Craigslist is known for people who are looking for the lowest rate, you can actually land good clients there. We’ve landed five-figure clients who turned out to be nice people to work with, from our Craigslist ads. The key with Craigslist is not to accept every prospect who comes your way. Use Craigslist to generate leads, then you decide on the best projects you’d like to work on, based on the prospect’s willingness to pay your rate, whether this is a person you actually want to work with, and other considerations. Don’t feel that you must take on every project that comes your way. You can pass on a project, if it doesn’t fit what you want to do.

5. Do the work. Once you land a ghostwriting client, make sure you fulfill your promise according to the work you’ve quoted. Do your best. Be professional. Doing a great job and developing a relationship with the client is one of the best ways to build your business. That is because happy clients tell their friends and contacts about the great work they received. So you can end up with a new client based on the work you did for your last client.

6. Build the brand. When you’re starting out, you might struggle with getting paid a decent rate. In fact, you may run into a slew of prospects who want to pay you the low, poverty-inducing rates that are so prevalent. But you don’t have to get stuck at that level. You can rise above and command a higher rate. The answer is in your brand. You’ve got to build a brand that speaks to quality, expertise, and something special. Don’t be like so many of the writers who are struggling at the bottom. Climb higher.

Ghostwriting can be a wonderful way to break free from small projects with low rates, but it’s no guarantee. You see, there are some ghostwriters who still find that they are being paid low fees. So while ghostwriting can be the answer to your low-pay writing woes, as I found that it was for me, it can only happen when you work on your writing business and raise your overall presentation.

Breaking into ghostwriting doesn’t have to be complicated, but if you want to build a solid business where you command a good rate, then you’ve got to work on branding and marketing what you do. Take the time to build a brand that sets you apart and work to market it so you get in front of those who are ready, willing, and able to pay what you want.

If you’d like to up your business game and create a One-of-a-Kind business brand and market it to find the right clients, then check out my Accelerate training program for solopreneurs and other small business owners.

]]>http://writersliving.com/how-to-break-into-ghostwriting/feed/05 Reasons Your Project Went Off the Rails and What to Do About Ithttp://writersliving.com/business-sense/how-to-manage-difficult-clients-and-projects
http://writersliving.com/business-sense/how-to-manage-difficult-clients-and-projects#commentsSun, 04 May 2014 07:59:07 +0000http://writersliving.com/?p=2635

Your project was going along quite well and then one day things just went crazy. Or maybe things were pretty bad off right from the start, a fact you realized as soon as you landed the project, and now you feel stuck with a client who constantly complains, keeps changing his mind, and is never satisfied.

Whether the bump in the road cropped up suddenly or the discontent has been brewing all along, managing a project where you and the client are at odds can be frustrating for both parties. And, unfortunately, such occurrences can be a fact of life when you run a service business, especially one built on creativity and subjectivity like a writing business. If you’re in business long enough, you’re bound to run across such a situation. But fortunately, those situations can be few and far in between, when you know what to look for.

Here is why you and your client might not be able to see eye to eye and what you can do about it:

Reason #1: Expectations are unclear

This is a big one. Many freelance writers rush into projects not quite sure of what their clients actually want or need. For their part, clients sometimes go into projects not quite sure of what the freelancer will actually do on behalf of their project. They have a hazy idea, but aren’t really clear on the specifics. This can lead to confusion and a seemingly never-ending project, as both sides feel a bit cheated by unmet expectations.

What you can do: Make sure you collect enough information from the client early in the process to be sure you are working based on what the client actually wants out of the project. This also means sharing enough information with your client so he or she knows what to expect when working with you. You might share this information in your conversation or consultation before the client signs up, on your website, in your contract, or by some other means.

If your client asks you to do something you normally don’t do, you’ll have to evaluate the requests on a case-by-case basis. You might be able to accommodate the request by making an adjustment to the project or adding another element to the project by way of an upgrade. Or you might have to decline the request, if it isn’t appropriate.

Reason #2: Agreement is not spelled out

It can be tempting to leap into a project without getting a signed agreement, but this is a dangerous way to do business.

What you can do: Take the time to spell out the agreement and to get your client’s signature so you know he or she has seen it. I started with a basic letter of agreement when I first began taking on clients and expanded it as I came across situations or questions that needed to be addressed in the agreement. Now, my agreements include basic elements such as scope of project, rate, and estimated turnaround time. But they also include number of revisions, payment schedule, rights and conditions, and other important information a client would need to know.

Reason #3: You goofed up

Sometimes it happens: You make a mistake. Maybe it’s a little one and maybe it’s a big one, but your client isn’t too happy.

What you can do: When you’ve messed up in your business, you’ll have to take responsibility for it. Acknowledge the mistake and offer to correct it. If it can’t be corrected, then look for a way to compensate your client for the inconvenience, annoyance, and frustration. Sometimes simply acknowledging that you made a mistake is all that is needed and can actually go toward building a stronger relationship with your client, as your client now realizes that you have the courage and integrity to admit mistakes. Compensating your client by offering a discount, refund, upgrade, or some other appropriate measure can turn your mistake into an opportunity to exceed your client’s expectations.

Reason #4: Client is unpleasant

It’s quite possible that your client is simply a bad apple. He or she may not be a good fit for you and may not be someone who is all that great to work with, no matter who the writer is. Sometimes the root of the problem is that your client has a poor attitude toward freelance writers. Because many writers are so desperate that they will take any crumbs thrown their way, many people who hire writers go into the arrangements with an expectation that they can treat the writers poorly or that the writers should be so grateful for the work that any demand should be immediately agreed to or heeded. If you are not that kind of writer, and are, in fact a professional with professional standards and limits, this could mean a bad time for you both.

What you can do: Make sure your agreement includes an exit clause. If you are doing all you can to accommodate the client and no matter what you do, he or she is still not happy and is abusive, then continuing on with the project may not be in anyone’s best interest. An exit clause can allow your client to cancel the project for whatever reasons are stated in the exit clause or it can allow you to cancel the project for the reasons stated in the clause. Naturally, you want to craft a clause that is fair and does not penalize you for your client’s poor behavior. For instance, your exit clause can’t have the client cancel the project on a whim and then get a refund. Your client’s whim is not your fault.

Reason #5. Lack of information or feedback

When you’ve repeatedly requested information that is necessary for successful completion of the project, but the client has failed to provide it, this can derail the project and throw off your production schedule.

What you can do: Make sure your agreement spells out time frames for feedback, as well as providing timely information to you so you can do the work you were hired to do. The agreement should also state what happens if you do not receive the timely feedback or information. You can’t be at the mercy of a client who hires you to do work but then blows off the project by never providing the feedback or information necessary to do the work. That’s also bad for the client, who is expecting the work in a certain time frame. If the client fails to provide the feedback or information and this prevents you from doing your work, then make sure your agreement addresses this.

You can increase the likelihood that your projects will progress as expected when you address these five problem areas. Improve your communication, and you can improve the relationship with your client so you both come out of the project with a positive experience.

]]>http://writersliving.com/business-sense/how-to-manage-difficult-clients-and-projects/feed/150+ Tips to Network and Build Relationships in Your Business Or Careerhttp://writersliving.com/marketing/50-ways-to-get-a-new-job-or-client
http://writersliving.com/marketing/50-ways-to-get-a-new-job-or-client#commentsTue, 22 Apr 2014 20:28:54 +0000http://writersliving.com/?p=2625If you’ve been struggling for new ways to get business or are simply interested in adding a new technique to your mix, then check out my new book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships. Relationships have been a key to my own business success, and I believe they can help you, also.

This is the reality: Your next job probably won’t come from the job boards. But it very well may come from your relationships. Your next business deal may not come from the ad you placed. But it very well may come from the relationships you are growing. If relationships hold so many opportunities, shouldn’t you be working on yours?

Relationships can be the difference between failure and success. If you don’t take care of your relationships, think you can only show up when you want something, or approach networking with a me, me, me attitude, then you won’t get very far. Contrast that with respecting relationships, consistent communication, and an attitude of giving, and you can reap huge benefits.

You may be putting a lot of time and effort into networking. The problem may not be the time or the effort. It may be the quality. It does little good to collect tons of business cards, if they are for the wrong people. And if you’re not inspiring trust or simply aren’t very likable, then it won’t matter how smart you are. You’ll still get passed over. Tweak your approach and get better results.

In Connect and Conquer, learn several keys to better and smarter networking:

1. The attitude change you need to make if you want to be successful.

2. Why yesterday’s networking strategies don’t work as well today.

3. How you can connect with others based on what’s special about you.

4. Why it’s not necessary to hit every networking event in town.

5. How to use social media to build relationships.

6. How to attract the right people, based on your goals.

7. How to build relationships and get new business without even leaving your house.

8. More.

When you are running a writing business, how well you get along with others, the way you present yourself offline and online, and how you stay in touch can all matter far more than how well you write. You see, nobody can hire you if you don’t help them know you, like you, and trust you.

I’ve worked hard to share useful information you can begin to put in place immediately to rev up your business, organization, and career. No matter your circumstances, or where you are in life, you can use the techniques I share and make them work in your writing life and business. With more than 50 tips for creating, growing, and leveraging relationships, Connect and Conquer is a practical resource for your success.

I’d love it if you’d grab your copy of Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships today. Get it here.

The proverbial feast or famine can strike anytime in a writing business when you’re not paying attention. Or for some writers, it may feel like famine and still more famine. Whatever the case, if you’ve hit a patch where money is running low and no new infusion of cash is on the horizon, you can feel pressed to hit the panic button.

What not to do

Well, first, hard as it may be, don’t panic. When you panic, you make rash decisions; decisions that can get you further down the hole. Another good reason not to panic is that you don’t want anyone to smell the stench of desperation on you. If they do smell it, one of two things will happen: They’ll run away from you, meaning no new business is coming from that direction. Or they’ll try to move in for the kill and get you to take on a slave-labor project. In your panic and desperation, you might take on the project that is paying way too little money, as you are just happy to have any dollar sign headed to your bank account. But then a strange thing happens when you take on a project for way too little pay: You hate the project.

You see, when you take on a project that is paying way too little, then that project only serves to keep you in the same desperate position. That is because the money from it isn’t enough to give you the time to do a great job (or, let’s be honest, even a decent job); it’s only enough to keep you scrambling, desperately looking for the next piece of work. And then when you sit down to work on the project, you might not do all that fantastic of a job because you resent the fact that you took it on for way too little money and your mind is elsewhere, anyway.

What to do instead: Be strategic, and push!

Six-step process to get new clients fast

1. Shake the bushes. Go back to past clients and see if they have any new projects. Of course you should follow up with former clients anyway, even when things aren’t desperate. Do this, so things don’t become desperate. But since you are in this tight spot, do check in now. If you did a good enough job on previous projects, then there is a good chance someone needs help with a new project.

2. Tell your contacts. Dash off an email to your family, friends, and contacts and let them know what you are doing. Tell them you have availability on your production calendar to take on a couple of new projects. Let them know the nature of your work: You do X, Y, Z. (You write blog posts, brochures, and website copy. Or you edit books, short stories, and papers. Whatever it is you do in your business, let them know. Don’t make them guess or press their brains to remember what you said the last time you talked.) Ask them to contact you if they need help or to forward the message on to anyone they know who does need help. Connecting with your contacts can turn into a new project.

3. Follow up on past inquiries. If you’ve had people to contact you about a project, but they’ve not signed up, then it is time to check in with them. Ask if they still need help with their project. Some people who didn’t sign up when you originally sent the quote may be ready to sign up now.

4. Get on over to LinkedIn. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is working for you. Your profile should include keywords related to the work you do. Sprinkle your keywords throughout your profile, including your headline, summary, experience, etc. If your keywords aren’t in there, how can you expect to show up in someone’s search for that keyword?

5. Develop a new product or service. I know it seems that you’re too distracted by the current need to think of developing anything, but this can also be a time to innovate. What need in the market are you in a position to address? Your new product or service can help others, but of course, bring in new revenue for your business, thereby diversifying your incomes streams.

6. Blog. Yes, blog. When you are looking for new clients, blog your expertise. Show that you know what you are doing and solve someone else’s problem. Sure, many readers will take the information and be on their merry way, but others will want to hire you to do the thing you are writing about in the post.

Each of these six tactics for getting new clients is something you should use in your overall marketing plan for your freelance writing business. Doing this will help prevent those lean times, because you’ll have a regular marketing approach that brings in new leads so you can make a living writing. But if you’ve not been marketing your business the way you need and are in a tight spot now, then super-charge your efforts by employing all of these tactics now. Do all six of these, and there is a really good chance you’ll bring in the new business you need so you become a more successful freelance writer.

If you’re hanging around this site, there is a pretty good chance you make a living writing or aspire to do so. You’ve probably written all kinds of projects for clients — projects to help them market their services, earn more income, and build their brands.

But have you thought of doing the same for your own writing business?

If you’re like a lot of creative service providers, you might be pretty good at doing the work based on your talent and skill but you’re not as good at marketing what you do.

That’s where a book comes in.

It’s time for you to write a book.

A book helps build authority and credibility like nothing else. Even in this cluttered marketplace where more than 3,500 books are published a day, being an author still means something. So make it mean something for you.

Write a book to help grow your freelance writing business.

Here is why every (serious) freelance writer needs a book

1. You get to strut your stuff. You can show off your writing skills in your book. On client projects, you may or may not have control over how a project shows up. But in your own book, you get to have the final say, and, therefore, can present your best work.

2. You get a lead-generation tool. Your book readers are qualified leads, because they are reading your book due to an interest in what you are already talking about. And if you’ve built your book correctly, by the time they finish reading that book, they are ready to engage with you some more — via social media, on your blog, in your newsletter, or even as a client, by hiring you for a project.

3. You choose the work you do. If you prefer a certain type of work or to write about a certain industry, then writing a book covering an angle or issue within this area can position you as the go-to person for writing help in this industry. For instance, if you specialize in travel writing, then a book on some issue within this area can help position you to get clients in that industry.

4. You define your brand. A book can help you position your expertise and brand. The tone of the book, quality of the information you share, and production quality of the finished work all contribute to your brand.

5. You can charge more. If you have written a book on your area of specialization or something related to your business, clients are more willing to pay you a higher rate. You see, there is a certain expectation that if you know enough about a subject to write a book about it, you must be some kind of expert. And expert status means more pay for what you do.

All of this serves to set you apart from the pack. Most freelance writers are not book authors. You get to be different. And positioned in your book reader’s mind as someone to turn to when they need help.

It’s great to work on client projects, but carve out some time to work on your own project: that book. It can help turn your struggling business into one that is thriving and providing you the writer’s living you’ve always dreamed of having.

So tell me in the comments: Have you written a book? How did it help your writing business?

A client in our book ghostwriting business recently called to tell me a publisher was interested in offering him a book deal. Of course I’m always happy when clients see success with projects we’ve helped them create, and this time was no different. We talked about the merits of accepting a book deal, which got me thinking about several things to consider when deciding if a book offer from a publisher will be a good fit for you. When I landed my first book deal (which I later terminated) and even my second one, I didn’t know much about book contracts. But now, as an experienced author and editorial consultant to other authors, I have learned just how important it is to read through the contract and negotiate your points — or skip the contract and stick to self-publishing.

Many authors self-publish to get their works in front of readers, just as our client did. Some of those find that their self-publishing success draws the attention of traditional publishers, who come with book deal offers in-hand. But just because a publisher offers you a deal doesn’t mean you should take it. It all depends on your interests, goals, and plans for your book. Even if you have a literary agent, you could still end up signing a bad contract, if you don’t know what to look for. So here are several considerations when entertaining a book deal offer:

Money offered. This is an obvious consideration. Every author who gets offered a book deal wants to know how much the publisher is willing to pay. Sometimes the advance makes it easy to consider a deal. Sometimes, the money offered by way of advance and royalties isn’t really enough to consider signing over your rights. It just depends on what you are looking for and what the publisher is offering. More and more publishers are offering smaller (if any) advances these days.

Distribution. Will the publisher be able to provide better distribution than you feel that you can? This can be a huge consideration because you may feel that the publisher’s already-established distribution channels will help you gain access to more readers. Or you may decide that your distribution is sufficient or that you can line up the distribution without the traditional publisher as a middleman.

Marketing. What kind of marketing will the publisher put into your book? These days, more and more traditional publishers are leaving marketing up to the authors. So if the authors don’t market the books, then the books won’t get marketed. So if you are already marketing your book or find that the publisher will not put any marketing effort into the book, you may find this will not work for you.

Restrictions. Are there any restrictions in the contract that you feel you can’t deal with? Remember, everything is negotiable, so if you find something in the contract you don’t like, negotiate it. If it can’t be negotiated and you don’t like the restriction, then you may choose not to sign. Restrictions may include but are not limited to genre in which you are allowed to write or even the name you are allowed to use when writing. If you write in more than one genre, for instance, the publisher may include a provision in the contract where you agree not to publish in any other genres while under this contract. Or, if you are a nonfiction author, the publisher may want to restrict the types of books or topics you publish. If you are an expert in multiple areas, this could have serious ramifications and restrict you from publishing works on those topics.

Rights. What rights are you signing over? Do you keep your movie rights? What about digital rights?

Creative control. When you sign a book deal, you are giving creative control to someone else. They own the publication rights, so they get to decide what the final product will be. (The publisher gets to decide what the manuscript says, by requesting/requiring certain editorial changes that you may or may not agree with and the publisher gets to decide on the cover. A cover you may or may not agree with.)

Duration of contract. Is the publisher offering a one-book deal, two-book deal, or something else? You may at first think that the longer the deal, the better. But what happens if you find that you don’t like the publisher? Or that the publisher doesn’t publish the book at all? If that happens, are you then stuck with this publisher through two or more books, anyway?

As you can see, there are many things to consider when looking at a book deal offer. There is no right or wrong answer across the board. It just depends on what is right for you at that time. Maybe having a traditional publisher take over the project and produce it will be a good thing because it can give you greater distribution and marketing help. Or you may find that you’d prefer to keep all rights to your book and sell it yourself or wait for a better offer.

Just yesterday, RootSky Books, our book publishing company, turned 12. It’s been through many changes since those early days where my only aim was to self-publish my own books and get my words out to the world. And through those changes, I’ve learned a lot. A lot that can help you as you grow your writing business.

First, a bit of the history.

I accomplished my first goal of self-publishing my own books and as a result, landed a book deal. I self-published my first two novels, As If Nothing Happened and Sacrifice the One before landing the book deal. As If Nothing Happened came in 2002 and Sacrifice the One two years later. The agent came in 2005 and the book deal in 2006, I believe. (Memory gets a little hazy on the details.) Self-published books? Check. Agent? Check. Book deal? Check.

But I didn’t want to shut down the publishing company because I had succeeded. Instead, I retooled and began focusing more on helping clients with their own book projects. I started ghostwriting books in late 2005. I split my time between ghostwriting books, freelance magazine and newspaper writing, and copywriting projects like press releases, web content, and brochures.

Just as the company made a huge change when I began ghostwriting, another change came in 2007 when my husband joined and added design capabilities. That was a big deal! We went from offering only writing services, to having the capabilities to produce an entire project. Suddenly, we were able to ghostwrite, edit, design, and publish clients’ books. We also added website design.

I’ve authored or ghostwritten more than 40 books, and we’ve edited and designed even more. We’ve become more specialized in what we do over the years, going from taking any and every project that came along in the early days, to being a bit more choosy and focused now.

But where we have been isn’t where we will stay. The one constant for us has been change. The company has evolved over the years to address capabilities, economic changes, and opportunities. And we’re not done reinventing ourselves. We have evolved into a media company. We now publish books, ebooks, and this blog. We’ll soon add other publications, which I’ll tell you more about later.

I share this brief history of RootSky Publishing, turned RootSky Books, to show how our company started, grew, and evolved. This is the writer’s living, and it’s why we produce this blog. You truly can make a living with your writing. We are living proof. But it takes more than writing to run a writing business.

Now, the 7 secrets to making your writing business a success

1. Tenacity. You’ve got to be committed for the long haul. You’ll have some lean years, especially in the beginning, and you’ll have some tough times. Being a creative entrepreneur isn’t for the faint of heart. But just hang in there. Things do get better. And you’ll be glad you stuck it out.

2. Innovation. Innovation isn’t only for tech companies. It’s for your little writing business, too. Be open to opportunities. Sometimes the market shows you a place where you can expand, even though you weren’t originally thinking about that chance for growth. Oh, and be open to change and willing to make adjustments, even if that means learning new skills. And that brings me to…

3. Ongoing education. We are constantly learning. In fact, I learn something new every day. You’ll need to make a point to look for new information that can add to what you already know — and even information that challenges what you know. Read books, blogs, online publications. Go through training. Try something new and tweak your processes.

4. Relationships. It doesn’t matter whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, you’ll need relationships. As writers, we have a tendency to prefer to be on our own, maybe at home working on our computers. And that’s great, after all, you’ve got to produce. But you still must engage with others. It doesn’t mean you have to go to parties every week, but it does mean staying in touch.

Relationships turned out to be one of the keys to our company’s growth, as those I had relationships with before launching my business became my first clients. One of my former newspaper editors became my first book marketing client, while another of my former newspaper editors hired me to write freelance stories for his magazine. My old newspaper allowed me to write my popular column for several years after I quit working there, and even hired me to write freelance business stories. People I had gone to church with hired me for their projects, and old friends signed up for me to do work for them. But it isn’t just people who know me particularly well who hire us. I met one of the world’s most known motivational speakers at a seminar and he hired me to do work for him and sent some of his coaching clients my way. We’ve gotten projects via social media, including Facebook and LinkedIn. And happy clients tell their friends about us, which often leads to more work. At one point, I did a study of our projects and found that 78 percent of our business came from relationships. My forthcoming book, Connect and Conquer: Grow Your Business, Organization, and Career Through Online and Offline Relationships, shares insights, tools, tips, and strategies for making relationships work for you.

5. Written agreements. You’ve got to take the time to get your paperwork in order. That means getting signed contracts for the work you do. It can be tempting to want to rush in and start on a project with just a verbal agreement, but control yourself. And take the effort to craft your own agreement, which you will want to use in most cases. This can save you a lot of headache. And can help you get paid. Speaking of pay…

6. Good fees. Keep your eye on the rate you charge. This was a particularly painful area for me. I charged way too little for too long. I loved the work I did and often didn’t mind getting low rates for it. But I’ve since gotten smarter and more experienced. Our rates aren’t the highest you’ll ever find, but they are a far cry from being the lowest. They are commensurate to what we bring to a project. Our rates take into account our experience, our knowledge, and our skills.

So even if you love what you do and would do it for free, don’t. You’re not running a charity. You’re running a business to help you get to the writer’s living you dream of — a lifestyle where you can work on your own creative projects, pay the bills, have time for family and activities you like, etc. Maybe your writer’s living dream includes doing some charity or work that gives back to the world. No matter what your writer’s living dream looks like, you’ll need money. So charge something decent — and eventually, better than decent. If someone doesn’t want to pay what you ask, then keep it moving. That’s just not the client for you.

7. Mind your numbers. I know, as a writer, you may not be particularly enthralled by numbers. I get that. When I started out, I was scared of numbers. All through school, I shied away from numbers, thinking math just wasn’t my thing. I was a words person. Numbers were for someone else. But when you run a writing business, you’ll need to pay attention to the numbers — how much you charge, as we just talked about, how much money you have coming in, how much is going out, etc. Knowing this will help you plan and can even assist you in determining what kind of project to take on.

So there you have it. You truly can make a living writing. But to do that, you’ve got to master these seven keys.

What other keys to building a successful writing business have you found?

Amazon provides a great opportunity for self-published authors to sell their books on equal footing with traditionally published authors, but choosing how to do that can be a bit confusing.

A client had questions about the best Amazon option as she looked to plan her distribution and marketing for a book we had ghostwritten and designed for her. I realized what she needed to know was something many others need to know, also. Some people think that if they already have an Amazon account they use for buying books or selling their old stuff like the jewelry they no longer wear or the books they’ve already read, then they are good to go. But not necessarily. It depends on how you want to sell your books, including how involved you want to be in the process, and whether you have other products you also sell. Amazon Advantage and the Amazon Marketplace are the options most often considered.

While you can sell books in both places, there are key differences that determine which one is right for you.

When looking at deciding if you want to offer your book through the Amazon Marketplace or Amazon Advantage, I generally advise Advantage.

Amazon Advantage or Amazon Marketplace?

Here is why: Offering your book through Amazon Advantage allows your book to look like any other book on Amazon’s virtual bookshelf. That is because your book is a part of Amazon’s inventory and gets treated like other books, including those from traditional publishers. It gets marketed by Amazon through its programs such as the “People who bought this book also bought this book” marketing program. Amazon ships out the books, so you don’t have to worry about running to the Post Office every time a book order comes in.

Where Amazon Advantage handles all parts of the sale for you, in the Marketplace program, you do all the work. You market the book yourself. You ship it yourself. And it gets treated a bit differently, in that your book will show that it is being sold by a third party. That is because the Marketplace is made up of many vendors. Also, both new and used products are sold in the Marketplace. Amazon Advantage is only for new merchandise.

The financial details are different also. With the Advantage program, you pay an annual fee of about $30 and Amazon receives a 55 percent discount. With Marketplace, there is no automatic upfront 55 percent discount, but there are various fees on each sale.

The Advantage discount, while it may sound steep, is similar to what you may find if you go with a distributor. The discount also allows Amazon the flexibility to offer promotional pricing to encourage buyers to purchase your book. And don’t forget, with Advantage, you get Amazon’s distribution, fulfillment, and customer service. That means you don’t have to deal with individual book buyers, shipping costs, or returns.

With Marketplace, you are selling directly to the public, so you handle your own fulfillment, shipping, and customer service. While I generally prefer Amazon Advantage, some sellers who want to be more hands-on and who sell lots of other products in addition to books may prefer the Marketplace because they may want to handle their own order fulfillment. Also, with the Marketplace, you get to set your own price. With Advantage, you don’t. Remember what I said about the promotional discount? Amazon can set a price different from the list price you have on the back of the book if they are trying to generate more interest and sales for your book.

A word about CreateSpace

Amazon has many other programs as well, including CreateSpace. CreateSpace is different from Amazon Advantage and the Marketplace in that CreateSpace actually creates the product. With Advantage and Marketplace, you sell from your inventory of books that you have had printed. With CreateSpace, you are using print-on-demand publishing to print a book only when a customer buys that book. So no inventory.

Some authors choose CreateSpace, but I see this only as an option if you are publishing your book as a hobby or as a test product. That is because when books are printed one by one only when someone orders them, it severely limits how you sell the books.

POD publishing services are popular with some authors who don’t want to invest anything upfront in the production of their books, which makes it ideal for hobbyists. But if you plan to publish your book and treat it like a business, you will need to invest in the production of your book by paying appropriate editing, design, and printing costs. Keep in mind that another reason why POD should only be considered if you are expecting to sell a few books is that it will get expensive over the long run if you use it in the event you need to order a lot of books. That is because you can get a better per unit printing rate when you order an inventory of books from a printer. But this isn’t a post about print-on-demand. That’s a post for another day. The main thing to remember about POD is that it’s not for selling a lot of books.

If you find that POD is the way to go for you because you don’t want to invest in book production costs upfront and don’t expect to sell a lot of books, then CreateSpace may be ideal. The publishing process is simple and you don’t have to be concerned with storing books. As for the money you earn through CreateSpace, there are several fees — sales channel charge, fixed charge, per page charge — deducted from the sale price before you receive your cut.

E-book publishing on Amazon

If you publish an ebook, then Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing — KDP — program is the way to go. You get a choice of royalty rates based on where you want your book sold. The platform is easy to use and makes your ebook available for download on the Kindle.

Choose what works for you

This is a brief overview of some of the Amazon vendor options for book publishers. Amazon Advantage may work for you if you don’t mind the 55 percent discount and loss of control over setting the sale price on Amazon and you want someone else to handle the sales. With Advantage, you don’t have to concern yourself with customer service, order fulfillment, or returns. The Marketplace may be a good option if you do want price control, don’t mind being responsible for customer service and order fulfillment, and don’t mind the fact that your book won’t be able to participate in some of Amazon’s good marketing programs. CreateSpace can be an option if you don’t want to invest anything upfront in production costs and don’t think you will sell many books. And KDP is the way to go if you are publishing an ebook and want it available on Amazon.

When you’re running a freelance writing business, or actually any type of service business, you will get to a point where you want to be a bit more discerning in the type of clients you take on. Sure, when you’re just starting out, you might scramble to get any client who comes your way. But as you gain more experience, confidence, and success, you will realize there are certain types of work you prefer.

One of the reasons you launched your freelance writing business may have had to do with the freedom to choose. Well, this is one area where you absolutely can choose! Yep. You don’t have to take every piece of business that comes your way. Instead, you can focus on doing your best work for clients you enjoy, and on projects that excite you. When you focus your marketing efforts on the clients you do want, you can build a better, stronger — and more enjoyable freelance writing business.

Here is how you find your ideal clients

1. Clearly define who it is you want to work with. When you develop a description of your target client, this can help you market yourself effectively to this client, rather than spread yourself too thin trying to market to any and every person who comes your way. What kind of person or business do you want to do the work for? Define as much as you can about this type of client: Where does the client get her information? Where does she hang out? What makes her need your help? (What is her motivation for hiring?) Is the client in a certain geographic location? Does the client need to earn a certain amount of money, have a certain number of employees, or operate in a certain role?

2. Identify the types of projects you want to do. When you started out as a freelance writer, you might have written any kind of project somebody paid you to do. Now, though, you may choose to specialize or focus on a certain area of work. For instance, when I left my newspaper job to work in my freelance writing business full-time, I took on a range of writing projects, including magazine articles, brochures, websites, books, etc. But as I got more experience and my business grew, I realized I wanted to focus my efforts on book writing. Now, I am a business book ghostwriter in Los Angeles. I help clients from all over the country turn their research, ideas, experiences, and stories into marketable books to build their brands. When you get ready to specialize, identify the two to three types of work you want to do.

3. Focus your marketing. Many freelance writers want to build strong businesses, but they don’t want to market. Well, it’s hard to build a business if you don’t let people know about that business. So once you’ve defined your audience and the work you want to do, create marketing efforts to get in front of those people. You’ll see tons of marketing ideas. Choose the three or four for you. Test and evaluate. Then make adjustments according to the results.

4. Build your personal brand. If you are a solopreneur or service provider building a business around your skills, abilities, or expertise, know that who you are plays into the work you get. So build a personal brand that is aligned with the type of client and work you want to get.

5. Do great work. In the midst of your marketing and other business-building efforts, you can’t forget to do the main thing: the work. And make it great. Each piece of great work you do helps to build your business and makes way for other great work — and dream clients — to come your way.

6. Seek referrals. If you have a dream client and you’ve done great work for this client, ask the client to tell her contacts about you. It can be as simple as asking your client if she knows of others who may need your services or offering a referral incentive such as a credit on a future project for every referral who signs up for a project.

7. Get social proof. Collect testimonials from happy clients. I sometimes collect testimonials, but not always, as there are times when I forget to ask for them when I wrap up a project. The testimonials I have provide social proof to others of the nature and quality of our work. So build it into your project close-out to ask for a testimonial, or ask for them occasionally. Whichever way you do it, just make sure you allow happy clients to share the good news of their experience with you.

8. Go after the clients you want. This is an extension of the point about marketing. Certainly market your business to your target audience using your chosen marketing tools, but if you know of specific people and business you’d love to work with, seek them out! Contact them to see if they need help.

9. Turn away less desirable clients. Yes, it’s true. You can turn down potential clients. If a marginal or less desirable prospect approaches you with a project that doesn’t quite fit or you see from your interaction with the person (or your Internet research of the person) that he won’t be a good fit for your business, don’t be afraid to pass. Passing on a project you know will be a headache or will take you away from the work you truly want to do can open you up to better opportunities.

10. Let prospects know whether you two will be a match. Include a page on your website that lets prospects know what exactly you are looking for in a client. This can be a page on your values. It can be a page on your rates. It can even be a page on how you do business. The point here is to let prospects qualify themselves. If they realize from your website that you two aren’t quite a match, then they can seek out another service provider and save both you and them time.

Making a living writing is not only possible, but it’s tremendously rewarding — especially when you get to work with dream clients on interesting projects. You can build a writing business that brings in a stream of clients and projects you want to work with when you are intentional in your business-building efforts.